In 1973, Tony Russo (right) listens as Daniel Ellsberg talks to reporters during the Pentagon Papers trial in Los Angeles. ASSOCIATED PRESS Visit the Photo Place

Ripley and Russo: Bravery and conscience

A recollection of two Virginians who made a difference in Vietnam, but oh, how differently, by Nancy St. Clair Finch

Date published: 11/17/2009

RICHMOND

Just three years in age separated them. Their deaths were reported in major U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, as well as by the news services. The obituaries reported that each died of "unknown causes," but Vietnam and what it did to their lives were doubtless among the causes.

John Ripley has been described as legendary for the selfless, heroic, and almost unbelievable single-handed blowing up of a bridge in Dong Ha, which stopped an onslaught of 20,000 North Vietnamese. His act, remembered as "Ripley at the Bridge" in a diorama at the U.S. Naval Academy, occurred in 1972. John's fabled feat--three hours hanging from a bridge while he attached explosives to the undergirding--is captured in a book, "Bridge at Dong Ha," by John Grider Miller (Naval Institute Press, 1989).

Nearly every possible military honor except the Medal of Honor was awarded to Col. Ripley: Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart resulted from his two tours in Vietnam. He was the first Marine to receive the Distinguished Graduate Award of the Naval Academy.

He was also the first Marine to be inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. According to his sister, Susie Ripley Goodykoontz, John said that Ranger School was where he learned about explosives--the skill that would embolden him to carry and attach 500 pounds of explosives while he hung below the bridge. He is credited with keeping the North Vietnamese out of South Vietnam for about three years.

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Date published: 11/17/2009